promptflow-core
Prompt flow core
What it is and what it does
promptflow-core is a lightweight runtime package for executing prompt flow workflows. It strips away the development and local testing tools from the full promptflow package, keeping only what's needed to run flows in production or cloud serving scenarios. The package depends on fastapi, flask, starlette for web serving, jsonschema for validation, and several utility libraries for file handling and date parsing.
It's designed as a minimal alternative to the full promptflow package when you don't need the devkit's local development features like connection management and run tracking. If you're building flows locally and want the complete experience, the full promptflow package is recommended instead.
Use it for:
- Running pre-built prompt flows in a production API service without development dependencies
- Executing flows in cloud environments where minimal package size and dependency footprint matter
- Deploying flows as microservices using fastapi or flask backends
- Serving inference workflows that were developed and tested with the full promptflow package
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Executes prompt flow workflows with minimal dependencies, providing the core runtime needed to run flows in serving or cloud environments without the full development toolkit.
Yes, if you're deploying flows to production or cloud environments and want to minimize dependencies. The low install friction, active maintenance, and MIT license make it a straightforward choice for serving scenarios. Install the full promptflow package instead if you're developing flows locally and need the devkit's tools.
Install
promptflow-core on PyPI
pip
pip install promptflow-coreuv
uv add promptflow-corepoetry
poetry add promptflow-coreInstalling promptflow-core
Before you install
Low install friction with a pure Python wheel and ten runtime dependencies. Active maintenance with recent commits and a substantial user base (212565 monthly downloads, top 15000 tier).
License in practice
MIT license permits unrestricted use, modification, and distribution in both open and closed projects with minimal restrictions.
Quickstart
pip install promptflow-core
from promptflow.core import Flow
flow = Flow.load(source='path/to/flow')
result = flow.run(inputs={'key': 'value'})
Requires Python 3.9 or later (supports 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13)
Verify before relying
- Whether flows created with the full promptflow package are fully compatible when executed with promptflow-core alone
- Performance characteristics or limitations when running complex flows in serving scenarios compared to the full package
Package facts
| License | MIT (permissive) |
| Python support | supports the current Python release (<4.0,>=3.9) |
| Install friction | low — pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 10 — docstring_parser, fastapi, filetype, flask, jsonschema, promptflow-tracing, psutil, python-dateutil, ruamel.yaml, starlette |
| Maintenance | actively maintained — 105 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 212,565/month — #9,454 on PyPI (30-day window, as of 2026-08-14) |
| Known vulnerabilities | none known (OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14) |
Evidence: promptflow_core-1.18.5-py3-none-any.whl
Keywords: core
Tags
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